Pillow 052
thank you, next
My entire week was dominated by the feelings I got from listening to this song; love it so much so I’d share the lyrics with you all - "“I am a soldier at the battlefield, waiting to hear the voice of my commander, Jesus if you call my name, I will answer a billion times. I know I have wasted so much time, Jesus if you call my name, I will answer”. It’s such a deep song of consecration and brokenness and I guess it broke me too, so it was a good week.
The US Congress keeps giving us juicy events that they are soon becoming a mainstay in my Pillows but how can I not talk about the absurdity that happened this last week. Kevin McCarthy, the now former US Speaker was removed from office today because 8 Republican congressmen don’t like him and have held him hostage. He went against their agreement and felt he’d survive, he was banking on the democrats to save him, the same democrats he’s riled up. I thought the right thing to do was that before you go into battle, you’d check that you have enough ammunition. Turns out Kevin McCarthy went to war without having the tools required for battle. Well, his Speakerships reign was the shortest in more than 100 years. Literally gave McCarthy the “thank you, next” treatment.
Digress A
Kamala Harris is someone that has confused me for a while. I am not quite sure how to measure her impact to the Biden ticket. Any criticism from Kamala however is merited, she put thousands in jail for marijuana offences and refused to publicly state if she smokes marijuana or not. Double standards much. I loved this NYTimes article about her and her impact on the Presidency, it was a very comprehensive article.
Taylor Swift is to white people what Michael Jackson was to the whole world during the 20th century. The enormous star power that she carried is unmatched. Her Eras tour broke records, whenever she releases an album she does crazy streaming numbers and when she decides to date someone, companies rush that person with endorsements. It’s also interesting that Taylor Swift has reached this level of stardom without ever existing in my ecosystem and I reckon so many other black people like me do no have Taylor in their ecosystem. I don’t know a single Taylor Swift song, I don’t know what she sounds like and I haven’t seen any performance of hers before but I know her brand. Everything I know about Taylor Swift has little to do with her music. It’s always about her breaking records, re-recording her catalogue to break free from a slave contract she signed, but whenever Taylor has come into my world, it’s always been for making quality economic decisions. So this week, after seeing her new movie break records I decided to google her economic team to know what powers these things. I found them and of course, she owns the company 100%. Star girl.
Digress B
A Nigerian Governor went to talk to students during a peace and development summit and he told them that the reason why the Tribunal nullified his election was because he was a muslim and his opponent was a Christian. The thing that unravels me with Nigeria is that even Bayesian thinking cannot explain this. This Governor was very successful in the private sector and ran a successful conglomerate, he’s supposedly one of the good guys with the right exposure and education. So why would you make a comment like this to young people - stoking tension and religious division. To a crowd of young students that you should educate and inspire? Incredible.
This is going to be a short Pillow because most of the global news sphere were dominated by the events that I have chosen to stay out of so I remain sane.
I have never been afraid of starting something new, I am a zero-to-one kind of person. One time, someone asked me why it’s so easy for me to start new things and I simply answered - I never ever seek external validation. I have never ever done anything in this life because I want to gain the approval of someone other than myself or because I want to appear a certain way. It’s why when I decided to start the substack, I just got up and started writing. I was not worried about readership numbers or how it would appear, I did it for myself and just myself. So It’s kinda cool that this is the 52nd Pillow, that’s a whole year’s worth. And I am super thankful for this Substack, it’s saved my life so many times. Writing is such a strong outlet for me that majority of what I write will always remain private as it’s a microcosm of my life so having an avenue to combine the two things I love - reading news and writing - is not something I take for granted. Thank you to the very few but consistent people who read every single Pillow and those that share this within their network. I don’t do this for you as I’d still write if I had zero readers but I sincerely appreciate the time you spend on these.
Always True.
Miracle Roch.